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Public Health Preparedness

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Public health emergencies such as infectious disease, bioterrorism, or natural disasters require a coordinated response at the local, national, and international levels. RAND research improves the capability of public health systems to anticipate and prepare for such emergencies, by providing a robust set of standardized response measures, tabletop exercises, and toolkits; using GIS technology for planning; and identifying best practices and lessons learned from multiagency exercises.

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The aim of this commentary is to discuss both the challenges and the rewards of engaging a public that wants to weigh evidence prior to taking action in an emergency, rather than defer to expert judgment.

This analysis used peer-reviewed literature, relevant policy, and federal guidance to characterize the capabilities of nongovernmental organizations, factors that determine their involvement, and key services they provide during disaster response and recovery.

The development of an assets framework which identifies relevant nongovernmental resources for disaster preparedness and response and assesses their availability at state and local levels found that the capacity of each sector to capture data needs strengthening.

Efforts to respond to performance-based accountability mandates for public health emergency preparedness have been hindered by a weak evidence base linking preparedness activities with response outcomes.

For vaccination to become a public health priority in the U.S., stakeholders must strengthen guidance for providers, which would make it easier for physicians to both assess vaccination needs and aid communication with patients about the efficacy and safety of vaccines.

Given the broad range of threats facing the United States, including those related to extreme weather, it is imperative that monies invested in enhancing health security be well spent, writes Shoshana Shelton.

Federal support for health security research is heavily weighted toward preparing for bioterrorism and other biological threats, providing significantly less funding for challenges such as monster storms or attacks with conventional bombs.

Federal support for health security research is heavily weighted toward preparing for bioterrorism and other biological threats, providing significantly less funding for challenges such as monster storms or attacks with conventional bombs.

RAND researchers developed an initial prototype tool to help determine capabilities and resources a locality will likely require during a disaster. The report also describes two social networking tools for local coordination of disaster preparedness.

Given the recent spate of highly publicized disasters, why don't more Americans pay attention to the advice of public health officials? The messages they are getting are largely based on unverified assumptions, not hard evidence. Equally concerning, these assumptions may inadvertently hinder preparedness.

Despite extensive messaging about the importance of citizen preparedness and countless household surveys purporting to track the preparedness activities of individuals and households, the role individual Americans are being asked to play is largely based on conventional wisdom.

This study suggests four timely US actions to address today's competing realities of globalization and economic austerity: raise awareness among clinicians and local health departments; capture and share exemplary disaster management practices across countries; ensure that US global health investments are effective, efficient, and sustainable; and think globally while acting locally to enhance US health security.

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Researcher Spotlight

Director of Operations, Research and Analysis

Stuart Olmsted is director of operations for research and analysis and a senior natural scientist at the RAND Corporation. He works on science and technology policy issues in education and health. Olmsted's recent research includes measuring laboratory capacity to respond to bioterrorism attacks…

Physician Policy Researcher

Laura Faherty is a physician policy researcher at the RAND Corporation and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine. Prior to joining RAND, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.

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